Europol has supported the Spanish Guardia Civil in taking down two main Russian organised crime groups involved in large scale money laundering in Spain.

Operation Oligarkh resulted in the arrest of 11 Russians linked to two of the most prominent Russian mafia groups, the “Solntsevskaya” and the “Izmailovskaya”. Among those arrested was one of the leaders of the “Solntsevskaya” group, as well as the President and the Vice-president of a local Spanish football club.

Both criminal organisations had developed a complex system to launder money in Spain, mainly through three legal companies based in the Málaga region: a local football club, a water bottling company, and a golf club. It is believed that these mafia organisations could have laundered more than EUR 30 million in Spain alone.

On 26 September, 100 Guardia Civil officers carried out 18 searches in different areas of Malaga. As a result, a large amount of cash, computer hardware, mobile phones, documentation and 23 high-end vehicles were seized, as well as various firearms.

Europol has provided support to the investigation. Moreover on the action day, Europol deployed one expert equipped with the mobile office on the spot in Málaga. This allowed for real-time exchange of information and cross-checks of the data gathered during the course of the action against Europol’s databases.

Additional information based on the Guardia Civil press release: Among the detainees is Alexander GRINBERG, President of the football club MARBELLA FC SAD, and Arnold TAMM, closely related to Semion MOGILEVICH, one of the most important criminals in the world. Besides the football club, the other two legally registered companies are listed as MARBELLA FC SAD, the bottler AGUAS SIERRA DE MIJAS and the golf club DAMA DE NOCHE in Marbella, controlled by the Russian criminal organizations SOLNTSEVSKAYA and IZMAILOVSKAYA

Mogilevich “is living in Moscow, where Russian law prohibits his extradition to the U.S. Through his extensive international criminal network, Mogilevich controls extensive natural gas pipelines in Eastern Europe, and he uses this wealth and power to not only further his criminal enterprises but to influence governments and their economies, Kowenhoven said…. Mogilevich’s money laundering network involved 27 nations around the world. At some point during our investigation, all those nations have assisted us, Kowenhoven said. “He moved money through so many countries, it made it very difficult to follow. But as a result of our investigation, we have forged great international partnerships.” Mogilevich has an economics degree and is deviously clever about manipulating funds—and investors. YBM, a public company incorporated in Canada, saw its stock price rise some 2,000 percent due to bogus financial records Mogilevich created, bribes to accountants, and lies told to Securities and Exchange Commission officials.” https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/october/mogilevich_102109

Tamm is half Estonian, as explained in the article:
“Spanish police arrest Estonian head of Russian mafia group
2017-09-29LETA/TBT Staff
TALLINN – Spanish police in the framework of an anti-Russian mafia operation… also arrested Arnold Tamm, the half-Estonian head of the Solntsevo group…” http://baltictimes.com/article/jcms/id/139757/